Texas is notorious for its gun culture. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen an expansion of laws allowing the open carry of guns, as well as allowing students to carry firearms on college campuses. Let’s also not forget the lunacy of Open Carry Texas which threatened groups like Moms Demand Action for opposing their agenda – by showing up outside their meetings with assault rifles.

Like many other states, it is not hard to get your hands on a gun, legally or not. Now, in the wake of recent terrorist attacks, Texas state representative Tony Dale is arguing against giving refugees asylum in the state because of the state’s gun laws.

Via Talking Points Memo:

In a two-page letter sent to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Monday, Dale asked state officials to reject the resettlement of more Syrian refugees within the Lone Star State’s borders after Friday’s terror attacks in Paris. He argued that immigration documents granted to refugees would allow them to obtain Texas drivers’ licenses, which in turn would allow them to procure firearms.

“While the Paris attackers used suicide vests and grenades it is clear that firearms also killed a large number of innocent victims,” Dale wrote. “Can you imagine a scenario were [sic] a refugees [sic] is admitted to the United States, is provided federal cash payments and other assistance, obtains a drivers license and purchases a weapon and executes an attack?” (Source)

You read that right, a pro-gun Republican is warning that Texas shouldn’t allow refugees to come to the state, because it is too easy to buy a gun there. He claims that if they established residency in Texas, they could get a driver’s license and then procure weapons to carry out a terrorist attack.

Tony Dale is right, it is too easy to buy a firearm in Texas, and you don’t even need a driver’s license to do it. In Texas, you can buy a weapon with no ID and no paperwork through private sellers, thanks to the gun show loophole. You don’t even need to go to a gun show to buy anything from a shotgun to an AR-15 assault rifle, you can also purchase from private individuals through Facebook or other internet sites – with absolutely no background checks of any kind.

If conservatives were sincerely worried about terrorism, they would do their part to make sure that it was as hard as possible for deranged individuals and criminals to get their hands on firearms – but that obviously wouldn’t play well with their base. Consider the fact that after the Sandy Hook massacre or the shooting in a Charleston church by a domestic terrorist, they said gun laws weren’t the issue. Now that their voters are whipped up into a frenzy by recent acts of violence by Islamic extremists, suddenly they want to use the most ironic excuse possible to score political points with their base.

The gun fanatic talking point over and over again is that more guns make us safer, and Texas is certainly full of them. Apparently more guns don’t equal safety – and maybe Tony Dale, like other NRA/gun lobby politicians, is counting on his supporters to be too dumb not to recognize his hypocrisy.